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CFP: Film Festival Cartographies symposium

CALL FOR PAPERS

“Film Festival Cartographies” Symposium

20-21 November 2014

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

Modena, Italy

The organisers invite prospective participants to submit abstracts for paper presentations at “Film Festival Cartographies”, a two-day symposium hosted by the Department of Linguistic and Cultural Studies, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and promoted by the Film Festival Research Network (FFRN) and the Ozu Film Festival.

The Film Festival Cartographies symposium endeavours to reflect on issues of global distribution, transnationalism, and on the social imaginaries and political economies embedded in film festivals. The symposium looks for contributions seeking to tackle the ‘social production’ of festival spaces (Lefevre, Harvey, Massey). Based on the idea of ‘critical cartographies’ (Harley, Wood), the event aims to explore the ways in which the festival ecosystem is constituted and marked in the world chart, and how festival maps could be understood as sites of power and knowledge. This involves thinking critically about the mapping strategies of both the festivals and the people working in the festival world. It also implies addressing the ways in which the festival circuit is imbedded in a particular ‘geopolitical aesthetic’ (Jameson) and how they reproduce certain ‘geographical imaginaries’ (Said). The discussion will be open to reflect on the various articulations between the dynamic structures of festival circuits and subjective festival experiences. Thus, it seeks to tackle, for example, the overlapping ‘mental maps’ (Jodelet, Lynch) that come into play at the festivals, related both to the personal trajectories at the festivals (Benjamin, de Certeau), and the festival‘s global position.

Therefore, we are interested in contributions that aim to explore, or challenge, the maps of international and regional film festivals. This mapping can be theoretical (on the various socio-political, morphological and economic aspects of festivals), as well as methodological, introducing new research approaches to the festival ecosystem. The symposium seeks to continue enhancing the field of film festival studies, promoting the encounter between professionals and scholars from different academic backgrounds, and encouraging an interdisciplinary debate.

Confirmed keynote speakers are Dina Iordanova (University of St Andrews) and Marijke de Valck (University of Amsterdam). English will be the only official language of the symposium.

Please send a 200-word abstract proposal, and 3-5 keywords, along with your full name, institutional affiliation and short biography (ca. 50 words) to Enrico Vannucci and María-Paz Peirano at modenasymposium -AT - gmail.com by 4th July 2014. The full call for papers is available at the FFRN website.

Registration for the symposium will be available on http://www.ozufilmfestival.com later in the year.